Oxford Square Capital (NASDAQ:OXSQ – Get Free Report) and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending (NYSE:NCDL – Get Free Report) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
6.4% of Oxford Square Capital shares are held by institutional investors. 8.6% of Oxford Square Capital shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Ratings
This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Oxford Square Capital and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending, as reported by MarketBeat.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Oxford Square Capital | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2.20 |
Profitability
This table compares Oxford Square Capital and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Oxford Square Capital | -6.39% | 14.80% | 7.88% |
| Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending | 36.83% | 11.13% | 4.83% |
Risk & Volatility
Oxford Square Capital has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has a beta of 0.4, indicating that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Earnings & Valuation
This table compares Oxford Square Capital and Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Oxford Square Capital | $42.68 million | 3.46 | $5.88 million | ($0.04) | -45.25 |
| Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending | $224.04 million | 3.11 | $116.32 million | $1.53 | 9.22 |
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending has higher revenue and earnings than Oxford Square Capital. Oxford Square Capital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Dividends
Oxford Square Capital pays an annual dividend of $0.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 23.2%. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays an annual dividend of $1.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 12.8%. Oxford Square Capital pays out -1,050.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending pays out 117.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oxford Square Capital is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
About Oxford Square Capital
Oxford Square Capital Corp. is a business development company, operates as a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company. It is a private equity and mezzanine firm. The firm invests in both public and private companies. It invests in secured and unsecured senior debt, subordinated debt, junior subordinated debt, preferred stock, common stock and syndicated bank loans. The firm primarily invests in debt and/or equity securities of technology-related companies that operate in the computer software, Internet, information technology infrastructure and services, media, telecommunications and telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, hardware, technology-enabled services, semiconductor capital equipment, medical device technology, diversified technology, and networking systems sectors. It concentrates its investments in companies having annual revenues of less than $200 million and a market capitalization or enterprise value of less than $300 million. The firm invests between $5 million and $30 million per transaction. It seeks to exit its investments within 7 years. It serves as the investment adviser to TICC. Oxford Square Capital Corp., formerly known as TICC Capital Corp., was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.
About Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending
Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is a specialty finance company focused primarily on investing in senior secured loans to private equity-owned U.S. middle market companies. It has elected to be regulated as a business development company. Nuveen Churchill Direct Lending Corp. is based in NEW YORK.
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